James Grimmelmann: Who Owns the Law?

We are all expected to know what the law requires of us–but that expectation only makes sense if the law is readily available for everyone to learn. Today, copyright threatens access to the law. Publishers have copyrighted the arrangements and annotations people use to navigate statute books, demanding payment for access. But just as the Internet has helped solve other problems of information production, it creates new options here. This talk will discuss recent copyright claims to “the law” in context, and suggest some ways toward a better future.